


Pull the Blinds Away

by small_town_girl



Category: Glee
Genre: Brotherhood, Family, Gen, M/M, Misunderstanding, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-05
Updated: 2011-09-05
Packaged: 2017-10-23 11:18:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/small_town_girl/pseuds/small_town_girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt thinks Finn's just being lazy when his stepbrother doesn't come downstairs every time Kurt calls him to help with cleaning the house for the party. When Kurt finally gets fed up with Finn, he bursts into his stepbrother's room and finds Finn sick in bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pull the Blinds Away

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Glee Angst Meme: Kurt plans an ND party(Blaine can attend) for a weekend when Burt and Carole have plans. Finn's supposed to be helping him clean and set up but he hasn't come out of his room - even though Kurt yells at him every five minutes. Finally Kurt storms into the room to give Finn a piece of his mind for making him do everything himself. He finds Finn extremely sick.

Kurt placed a bag of organic chips in his shopping cart, right next to the bags of calorie-packed chips most of his guests at tonight’s party would consume. He’d been planning this party since two seconds after his dad and Carole announced they would be spending the weekend plus Monday in Columbus. He’d planned a theme, despite sarcastic comments by text from Puck and Santana; he’d planned a menu, having to assure Rachel there would be vegan options and Brittany that he wasn’t in need of her fondue set; and he’d cleared his schedule for Saturday morning to have time to clean the house.

Finn was supposed to be helping but when he’d knocked on his stepbrother’s bedroom door that morning, there’d been no sound of movement. Kurt had decided it would be best if he left Finn to sleep and did the shopping himself. It would be easier to shop without Finn insisting they buy every single item with added sugar anyway.

When Kurt got home, struggling with opening the front door while handling several grocery bags (he was used to lighter, clothes-filled bags), he shouted for Finn. It wasn’t until after he’d finished putting everything away that he realized he didn’t hear the sound of footsteps upstairs. Finn must still be in bed.

“Finn!” he shouted from the bottom of the stairs. “It’s time to start cleaning. I will tell our friends it’s your fault if the party’s postponed because the house is still a mess!”

Blaine was supposed to come over early to help them clean, and should be there any minute, and Kurt would rather Finn didn’t wander through the house in his boxers. It was bad enough he had to see his stepbrother stumbling like some sleep-deprived zombie in old power rangers boxers, but Blaine didn’t need to see it.

“Finn, get down here!” he yelled before turning on the vacuum cleaner. If the noise woke Finn, then it served Finn right for being so lazy.

A half-hour later the vacuuming was finished, along with the mopping, and there was still no sign of Finn.

“Kurt?” Blaine’s voice came from the front door.

“Hi,” Kurt smiled as his boyfriend wrapped his arms around him in a hug. “Glad someone showed up to help me.”

“Did Finn take off on you?” Blaine actually chuckled and Kurt couldn’t blame him. Was he really surprised that Finn was being a normal teenage boy and avoiding getting up before noon?

“He’s still in bed,” Kurt rolled his eyes. “There’s still so much to do. I have to hide anything breakable, make snacks, decorate the living room, oh my God how am I going to get everything done in time? Finn, get down here now!”

“Maybe you should just go wake him up,” Blaine laughed.

Kurt sighed and headed up the stairs. He’d pour a glass of cold water over Finn’s head if necessary.

“Finn, I’m warning you,” he said as he opened Finn’s door. He expected to find Finn sprawled across his bed, tangled in his bed sheets, still fast asleep with a video game controller in hand. Instead he found his stepbrother curled into a tight ball, pillow trapped in between his arms, and face buried in the comforter he’d pulled off his bed. “Finn, what’s wrong?”

“Hurts,” he heard Finn moan into the blankets.

He’d thought Finn was just being lazy, not wanting to get out of bed after a late night of video games, and because of his assumption, Finn had been alone and in pain for hours. He perched himself on the edge of Finn’s bed and placed a hand on Finn’s back.

“What hurts?” he asked, though he could take a reasonable guess by the way Finn had his knees drawn up against his chest. He’d only seen Finn sick twice since freshman year, and one of those times was earlier that year with mono. The other time was actually a few weeks into freshman year, back when he’d only known Finn as the kid forced to sit next to him when the teacher insisted on an alphabetical plan. Mr Schuester started as one of those teachers so Kurt had sat next to Finn in Spanish class and he’d been the one to notice all the color drain from Finn’s face. Finn had missed the rest of the week, stuck at home with the flu.

“Everything,” Finn moaned unhelpfully. Kurt couldn’t blame him; just looking at him made Kurt want to crawl into his own bed.

“Do you think you need to go to the hospital?” Kurt wasn’t sure how he and Blaine would manage to get Finn out to his car but they’d figure it out.

“No,” that didn’t surprise him. Finn hated the hospital and would avoid going there as much as possible. It meant a lot, now that he knew, that Finn had stayed with him at the hospital every day his dad was there.

Kurt moved his hand from Finn’s back to feel his forehead. It was hot. Too hot. There was a definite fever, not high enough for a hospital visit but enough to worry Kurt.

“You get him up?” Blaine’s voice asked from the hall.

“Can you go in my bathroom and bring him a cold cloth, glass of water, and Tylenol?” Kurt didn’t turn around to see if his boyfriend was in the room or if he’d stayed in the hall. “Finn’s sick. He’s running a fever.”

“Sure,” Blaine’s footsteps disappeared down the hall.

Kurt turned his attention back to his stepbrother. Finn was pale and sweaty, and now that Kurt was looking for signs of sickness he noticed that Finn was shaking like he was cold. It had to be the fever because Finn didn’t get cold; it was one of the things Kurt resented, in a brotherly way, about Finn. Kurt would be buried under two blankets while watching a movie and Finn would sit next to him in a t-shirt and jeans, perfectly happy in the cold house.

“Here,” Blaine appeared at his side, holding out the cloth, water, and medicine. Kurt took the cloth and placed it over Finn’s forehead, earning a loud moan from his stepbrother. “Shouldn’t you make him take the medicine before you put the cloth on his head? Won’t it just fall off?”

“I know what I’m doing,” Kurt turned to glare at his boyfriend. He was taking care of Finn the same way his dad would take care of him when he was sick. And it always worked. “Finn, can you sit up a little? Slowly? I have some medicine for you.”

He helped Finn sit up enough to take two Tylenol, holding the cloth in place with one hand so it didn’t fall. “Lie back down now,” he said, gently pushing his brother back on the bed. He spent the next few minutes fussing, straightening Finn’s blankets, adjusting his pillows, and doing everything he could think of to make Finn more comfortable. “Try to sleep. I’ll call Carole and tell her you’re sick.”

It didn’t matter how much Finn protested that their parents deserved some time to themselves, or that it was just the flu, Kurt was calling Carole. If he didn’t, she would kill him when she got home to find her son sick without her being told. His dad was the same way. And he had to remember to text everyone to cancel the party. Finn didn’t need all their friends showing up, being loud and trying to talk him into partying with them even though he was sick.

Kurt hated being doted on when he was sick; he just wanted to curl up under his blankets and be left alone. Finn was almost the complete opposite. He wouldn’t go out of his way to seek attention or comfort but he’d willingly accept whatever anyone offered him, whether from the school nurse or his mother.

“But the party…” of course that would be the thing Finn protested. Kurt knew that Finn had been looking forward to the party almost as much he’d been.

“We can have another one,” Kurt cut him off. “Do you really want Puck and Santana in the house when you can barely keep your eyes open?”

“No,” Finn mumbled. Kurt could tell he was close to falling asleep so he signalled to Blaine to leave.

“Will you be alright if I go downstairs?” he asked as he stroked his fingers through Finn’s sweaty hair. He’d be washing his hands as soon as he left the room, it was disgusting, but the gesture seemed to soothe his brother and Kurt felt guilty over assuming Finn was purposely ignoring his numerous calls.

Finn made a noise that sounded like an agreement to Kurt so he continued stroking Finn’s hair until he was sure his brother had fallen asleep, then he slipped off the bed. He made a quick stop to his bathroom to wash his hands, twice, then went downstairs to find Blaine.

“I called Rachel and asked her to spread the word that the party’s cancelled,” Blaine was staring at his phone with a confused look on his face and Kurt could take a realistic guess as to why. If Blaine had told Rachel that Finn was sick, the girl would be at their door as fast as her horribly clashing shoes could carry her. “She kept talking about coming over to nurse Finn back to health because she needs her male lead.”

“Great,” Kurt rolled his eyes. Sure, the girl was his friend now but that didn’t mean Rachel didn’t still annoy him most days and having her chirping in his ear about how he wasn’t taking care of Finn the right way was only going to end badly. For her.

“I told her he’s highly contagious so she decided it’s best if she stays home,” Blaine grinned and Kurt wanted to throw his arms around him. “She said something about her being Tinkerbelle and not taking any risks.”

Kurt was just relieved he wasn’t going to have a hysterical Rachel Berry showing up on his doorstep with the perfect song to show her grief over her sick friend. He took the time to send out a text to all his friends, just in case Rachel forgot, informing them that the party was cancelled. He received a few replies right away, expressing their disappointment but understanding and telling him to pass on their ‘get well’ wishes to Finn.

Then he called Carole.

“Tell Finn we’re on our way home,” she insisted. Kurt expected nothing less. She would be worried the entire car ride home until she was sitting next to Finn on his bed. “Thanks for letting me know Kurt.”

“Of course,” Kurt said before he hung up. “Blaine,” he called when he noticed his boyfriend was no longer in the room, “I’m going to make some soup. Do you want some?”

“Want help?” Blaine appeared from the kitchen, holding a can of chicken noodle soup like he’d read Kurt’s mind.

“Not with that cheap imitation canned soup,” Kurt replied as he walked passed his boyfriend to get to the fridge. “Finn’s already sick, let’s not overload him with sodium.”

Kurt started chopping vegetables for the soup while Blaine cut up chicken. It was a soup recipe Kurt knew by heart, having made it for his dad every time he’d gotten sick since the day he was allowed to use a knife. There wasn’t anything he could do now about having ignored Finn all morning but he could make it up to his brother by making him the best soup and taking care of him until their parents got home.


End file.
